Life isn't a business to be managed, it's a mystery to be lived!

Archive for August, 2012

Days fly. It was sad to leave Yanni and I had become comfortable with an easy life but it was time to start moving.
I arrived in Airlie Beach which is the gateway to Whitsundays. Ailrie has ca 5000 inhabitants which is heaps more than Yannies 50 or so :p

My first day I want for a big walk. It was a long time ago I was walking and i got a little too excited and started off with 7km the first day. My feet said no but my mind didn’t care. Started from the south of Airlie on the one and only nice beach where I found these little fellas. The small one is ca 7mm wide… Tiiiny!

Airlie is a nice little place. There are sailing boats everywhere on every beach and harbour and also out in the sea. Behind you can spot some of the Whitsundays.

I went on a day tour to Whitsundays with a little motorboat. We were a group of 24 people and there were 4 boats out there like the one below. We started off with a crazy ride and it just continued like that all day. Except for our guides driving zig zag and in eights they also drove on each others waves from behind. Probably not legal at all as we were too close to the each other’s boats but it was good fun!

I was delighted to have my first snorkel experience in the great barrier reef! Indescribable! It’s like beeing in a big aquarium with colors you can’t even think of! It’s a whole other world down there! For some reason this is the sign to tell the tour guides that I’m OK.

And finally got to see my first whale! We saw 4 whales in total! I was like a child, so excited to see such a beautiful animal! Simply amazing. This humpback is ca 10m long. Apparently it was a rare one as well because it was in the paper that morning. Humpbacks are usually grey but this one is white on the sides so it made the paper.

Now to our next stop. Whitehaven beach. It is truly a peace of paradise on earth. No postcards nor pictures do this place justice! Though here are a few from the lookout points.

Had our lunch down at the beach and this little fella was waiting for his lunch too.

But I kept my desert for myself!

At my hostel I met my new best friends! We had an awesome time. This day we had a breakfast date which lasted 9 hours!

I met the shortest person and the tallest person in Airlie!

There’s a Saturday market which we visited and a man just finished this sand art

And so I’ve been camping. We were 7 + 2 kids. Also during Saturday we had a few visits from Yanni.

The spot we had was beautiful. And not only that, we had excellent weather as well! Lucky bastards? Yeah that’s us!

So we started the first day to go catch some bait for fishing later on. We waited for the low tide and passed across to suck up some yabbies. There were thousands and thousands of soldier crabs which you need to pass…were to put your feet though? Apparently they move when you put your foot down. Now I freaked out of course because they look like spiders and you can hear them. It sounds like a million tap dancing spiders! Brr…gross! Look closely…

I found one lost little soldier

Now it was time to find yabbies…I thought…well we still needed to pass the mud……..

Nobody told me you sink and get bogged! Don’t know why Bill didn’t sink, I mean he is heavier than me…

Now then. Sucking yabbies. You use a suction pump which you stick in holes were you can see they digged themselves into. And then you suck them up!

This is what they are

Now why did I eat one when it was still alive? Maybe because I was told they taste good. It actually did but I was happy with one appetizer.

We also caught some small fish to catch bigger fish later

Here and there we caught them stupid toad fish…they are poisonous and just useless…

Back to camp it was time for a refreshment

Cathy had made damper. It is an aboriginal bread which is similar to a big scone. You can put anything in it. Yummie as hell! I kept wanting more and more. Thank goodness that Jeff was making one the next day too! Wohoo!

Saturday morning I went for a nice walk. Jeff was already across with his canoe trying to catch a fish or two.

When I got back we had some breackie and most of us were fishing. Maca was telling us nice stories while Bill was waiting for that big fish he saw earlier swimming around.

Mick and his son Jack came over for a few hours to try their luck too

We did not catch one single fish all weekend! Ha!

The other day we had also put a few crab pots. I was delighted to finally see a mud crab and EAT it! They are delicious!

Yes it is alive in my hands 🙂

Just when we cooked the crabs Terry and Trish came to stay the night.

Sunday morning was yet another beautiful day but sadly enough we needed to pack our things and go

Back from a wonderful camping weekend and off i go again. It was really hard to make the decision and i don’t feel that I want to leave but the ticket is booked.
Tomorrow I’m leaving Yandaran. Usch…ouf….feels bad saying it, writing it….and tomorrow I’m doing it. Isn’t it crazy how you can attach yourself to a place that much? Obviously it isn’t just the place but all the people as well!
I’ll try to put up some photos tomorrow from the crazy lovely weekend. Otherwise you’ll just have to wait!